KNOV/LEDGE • 



[ArG. 



me. I mention this as, of course, some of the English-speaking 

 native masters themselves mispronounce. In every case that came 

 before me the boy on the first attempt pronounced " wool " as 

 " ool," yet the sound of w is distinctly heard in one of their com- 

 monest pronouns " woh." Another common mispronunciation is to 

 place a short vowel before double consonants, such as sp, st, sm, &o 

 It is most amusing to hear a conscientious native master trying 

 to correct this fault. " Don't say is-spot ; say like mo ispot." A 

 very peculiar mispronunciation, not made by the natives, but 

 by uneducated Europeans in India, is the substitution of the 

 English a for the vernacular sound of u in tub. It is true that in 

 some of the later systems of transliteration this letter is repre- 

 sented by a, but the uneducated European does not know this, he 

 gets his pronunciation from the camp-followers and others that 

 hang about cantonments. One of the commonest words in use 

 among the natives is ahhi, meaning "now," pronounced ub-hee by 

 themselves, but by the British soldier, abbey. No native would 

 dream of pronouncing it so. Of course one does not expect the 

 untrained ear to distinguish between dental and palatal t's, or 

 between g and gh, and suchlike, but there seems something odd 

 in words which are constantly heard as salaam, ubhee, ghariwan 

 Jjeing invariably pronounced as slam, abbey, and garriwann. 



I have collected a few words from Raja Siva Prasad's " Hindi 

 Grammar," which he gives as words in common use among the 

 natives, but derived from English. They are, I fear, too few to 

 draw any conclusions from, except that the liquids seem inter- 

 changeable. I have added a few words I have noticed myself, but 

 they do not help. From the list of mispronounced names which I 

 iiave added, it is apparent that the native tries to connect some 

 meaning with the name, but the list is chiefly interesting in showing 

 his ingenuity in so doing. Some mistakes, most amusing to those 

 who know better, are made by tourists in India in the pronunciation 

 of Indian names, such as Benaira for Benares, Oodh for Oudh, 

 Peshawar for Peshawur, Cabool for Cabul, &e. 



List of words from Raja Siva Prasad's Hindi Grammar :— Box, 

 Bukkus; Breakvan, Brikban ; Button, Biitim ; Bottle, Botul ; Bag, 

 Beg; Decree, Digree ; Engine, Unjun; General, Jemel ; Lantern, 

 Lal-ten ; Lamp, Lump ; Lord, Lat j Longcloth, Nainkilat ; Number, 

 Lumber ; Note, Lote ; Special, Ispeshal ; Stamp, Istamp ; Tandem, 

 Tumtum. 



Additional list -.—Baby-girl, Beebee, which really means lady; 

 Baby-boy, Baba, which really means son ; Madam-sahib, Mem- 

 sahib ; Coachman, Coachwan ; Teg— i.e., Tent-peg— Meg ; Cham- 

 List of transformed names :— Alexander, Alekjullunder ; Brad- 

 ford, Brass pot ; Bartlet, Bottley ; Bartle Frere, Bottly Beer ; 

 Brown or Bum, Brnne; Coles, Kuola, meaning charcoal; Aber- 

 ■crombie, Bikram, meaning goat ; Mackintosh, Mnkkun toost, 

 meaning butter and toast ; Johnson, Jan Sen ; Thomson, Tam Sen ; 

 Smith, Ismit ; Yanzulicum ; Bijli, meaning lightning. 



There are, of course, many others, but I cannot recollect them 

 Rt this moment. Jos. W. Alesaxdee. 



THOUGHT.INDUCTION. 

 [1890J— I am reminded by an article in the summer number of 

 ilayfair, entitled " Telepathy," of a very popular argument against 

 those who think they see some resemblance between Electric (or 

 Magnetic) Induction and an induction of ideas which they affirm 

 does sometimes take place between two or more minds ; and now 

 that Mr. Irving Bishop threatens to bring another though - eading 

 action against Mr. Henry Labonchere, this contriiution to articles 

 on the subject may interest those who have read with a'tention 

 accounts of the former gentleman's late feats and failures. 



Now it is a fact well known to all who have any familiarity with 

 electricity and magnetism that an electric current in a body in- 

 ductively affects the electric condition of all bod-es in its vicinity, 

 and that between a magnetic needle for instance and any other 

 magnetic substance in proximity, there must exist an analogous 

 sympathv, if I may use the phrase. 



To illustrate these facts for the benefit of those who have not 

 fltudied the matter, if two cables were stretched across the Atlantic, 

 for instance, at a distance of, say, one yard from each other 

 throughout their entire length ; if certain electric signals were sent 

 through one of these cables the same signals would be induced in 

 the other and parallel cable, and might be observed at either end 

 of the same, so that if a magnetic needle were moved into any 

 position there would be a tendency for all magnetic substances 

 in the vicinity to take up a new position 



I result of such 



The author of " Telepathy" makes use of an argument which I 

 have often seen adduced, but which I have never seen combated. 

 " As for the analogy of electricity," he says, " it is wholly mis- 

 leading. One magnetic needle acts on another at a distince, it is 

 true, but the phenomena are regular and uniform. They are 

 capable of exact prediction. They are, in short, matter of exact 

 science." As for the alleged instances of thought-reading, I need 

 hardly remind all who read this that they are very few and far 



Now, to give the electric analogy a fair chance we should state 

 facts correctly. To refer to the action which one magnetic needle 

 exerts over one other at a distance, it is quite true that if we know 

 everything about these two needles, and can place them where no 

 third influence can bear on them, we shall be able to predict with 

 certainty what will be the force exerted by each magnet on the 

 other ; bnt we must recollect that were the magnet we wish to act 

 upon with one other magnet surrounded by other magnetic forces 

 the effect would be the resultant of all the forces, and would in all 

 conceivable probability not be equivalent to the effects of the one 

 magnet by itself. Mesmerists sometimes ask their subjects to gaze 

 intently on some uninteresting object, such as a plain zino disc, in 

 order to free their minds as much as possible from surrounding 

 forces, so that there may be no conceivable force other than that 

 emanating from themselves, the mesmerisers, brought to bear on 

 the subject's mind. And if once we agree that one mind is 

 inductively affected by another, we shall surely not have to give up 

 the electric analogy for any reason yet assigned. We shall rather 

 understand why cases of thought-reading, clairvoyance, and the like, 

 are so exceptional instead of being the rule. The mind would 

 have to be abnormally free, so to speak, or the one force which was 

 to make itself felt would have to be so correspondingly powerful as 

 to be able virtually to annihilate the resultant effect of all the 

 otV.er inductions bearing on it. 



But even assuming that we could believe in the doctrine of 

 Telepathy, we can hardly expect that cases of clairvoyance or 

 thought-reading cau ever become frequent. What an infinite 

 number of factors make up the resultant force which determines a 

 man's thoughts and actions! As every successive wave dashes on 

 the rock, the spray in fury lashed assumes each time a different form. 

 Who will predict the form which the spray shall assume next time 

 the wave shall break ? Yet if we knew the angle at which the 

 wave would strike, as well as its shape and volume, the force and 

 direction of the wind, and all the other elements or factors, we 

 could draw an accurate prophetic sketch of the resultant. Is it 

 therefore too much to assume that if we knew all the factors in the 

 case, we might determine what a man's thoughts or actions would 

 be under any given circumstances, if only we could work out the 

 sum thus set — given the forces, to find the resultant? 



In conclusion, I would remind all that we cannot positively aver 

 that such is not the case, and I feel confident that such a belief 

 could only work good. Our hatred of evil-doers would give place 

 to pity for them, and thankfulness that circumstances have ren- 

 dered us happier in our actions, and we should be filled with a 

 desire to do our utmost to make that greatest factor in the world's 

 good— knowledge— attainable by all. Herbeet Kingsfobd. 



\ow, as to induction of ideas. If such induction e: 

 sonably consider that there is any resemblan 





MENTAL DEVELOPMENT. 

 ' Later on, Greek art, like art everywhere, declined, 

 jccasional .... exceptions, never revived again." 



is not worth while t 

 the reference. 



Not in Greece only, but un pea partov.t, we see material proofs 

 of the decline of man as regards art. Where are the artists of 

 Baalbec, Nineveh, Luxor, Stonehenge, Yucatan, Easter Island, 

 Cambodia ? They all, in some respects, excelled us Europeans, 

 who are a compost of the Italian, Celtic, and German savages of 

 old. We have excelled them in a hundred ways; yet not in art. 

 Is man never to be universally superior ; not perfectible ; now 

 emerging, now submerged, like the shell he dwells on ? 



The idea might be carried much further. Thus, civilised man is 

 less ab'e, in many things, than the savage. Man, everywhere, is 

 in many respects' inferior to the beasts. What he has gained in 

 dominion over the forces of nature, he has lost in morals. No 

 animal i4 so contemptibly malignant, so illogical, as man; or so 

 ridiculous in his actions. I know a horse whose sole occupation 

 consists in pulling round and round a number of models of his 

 species, on which arc seated numbers of ours — not models, but 

 grown-ups, as well as children, "all alive oh ! " to the accompani- 

 ment of an extended repertory oi four opera airs. I fancy I see in 

 his eyes (and ears) the sentiment " How sad is my lot, to have 

 fallen under the yoke of creatures who are not even sane 1 " 



There was an old Frenchman who had a donkey, which he sys- 

 tematically ill-treated. One evening, as soon as the last bit of 



